(Washington, D.C.) – The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today blasted the Senate for passing a transportation bill that costs taxpayers $295 billion over six years and urged President Bush to veto any final version that costs more than the $284 billion passed by the House.  The Senate passed the Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (H.R. 3) by a vote of 89-11.  The House and the Senate will now to go conference to work out the differences between the respective versions.   

Last week, the Senate approved the $11 billion cost hike by a vote of 76-22.  An amendment offered by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) gave the Senate a final opportunity to show fiscal restraint by cutting the price tag back to $284 billion; it was rejected by a vote of 84-16.        

“Today, only 16 out of 100 Senators were able to show the slightest concern for the budget deficit,” CCAGW President Tom Schatz said.  “It violates good sense and Congress’s own budget resolution.”

The previous six-year transportation bill expired in September 2003.  President Bush originally threatened to veto any bill costing more than $256 billion (the amount collected by the gas tax).  The House responded by requesting an eye-popping $375 billion while the Senate requested $318 billion.  The House compromised with the President on a price tag of $284 billion, an amount that was apparently agreeable to the Senate as well.
Many Senators argue that the $11 billion will be offset, in part, by measures to crack down on fraud and abuse in tax collection. 

“It is irresponsible and speculative to assume that tweaking tax rules will net $11 billion,” Schatz continued.  “CAGW agrees with Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), who declared the additional funding to be ‘quite simply, unequivocally, unquestionably, a budget-buster.’”

However, the Senate bill does not include the 4,000 specific projects (worth about $12 billion), that were included in the House version, such as $4 million for bike/pedestrian crossings in New Orleans, La., and $3 million for the National Packard Museum in Ohio.

“Taxpayers could end up with the worst of both worlds,” Schatz concluded.  “The Senate could offer to approve the House’s 4,000 projects if the House agrees to the extra $11 billion.  Taxpayers are about to be run over by this massive amount of pork and waste.”

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.